In this guide, we will look at some effective ways to make an online classroom more dynamic, interactive, and engaging.
1) Start with Icebreakers
Students can be hesitant or nervous to initiate a dialogue in an online learning space. In this case, kicking off the session with an icebreaker can eliminate any fear of public speaking they may have. In fact, students will become more comfortable and gain initial confidence to speak when you start with a fun icebreaker session.
1. Two Truths and a Lie
“Two truths and a lie” is a great icebreaker that can help set a cheerful mood at the start of a class. This is a light-hearted icebreaker that can be held with any number of participants. In this activity, students take turns sharing three statements about themselves, out of which two are true and one, false. The rest of the students then guess which of the three statements is the lie.
2. Would You Rather
“Would you rather” is a question-based icebreaker that can liven up your online classroom. It will also help students playfully open up in a live online class.
Here are some questions that you can ask your students
- Would you rather read a book or watch a movie based on the book?
- Would you rather work in a group or alone?
- Would you rather study math or history for a year?
3. One-Word at a Time
This is one of the most popular icebreakers, not just to engage but also entertain learners. This activity can easily be tailored to any group of students.
You can ask students how they are feeling at that moment and ask them to express it in one word through chat. You will get some responses from the students like “good”, “great”, “amazing”, “ok”, and so on.
Second, you can ask a random question, “Which scientist has made the greatest contribution to mankind?”. Students might name “Albert Einstein”, “Nikola Tesla”, “Isaac Newton”, and more.
4. Show and Tell
Show and tell is a highly engaging icebreaker that can encourage students to be involved in the virtual learning session.
Ask each student to share their personal object, like a gifted pen, a memorable photo, and such, and explain why they chose it and what it means to them. Encourage the rest of the class to pay close attention and listen. After everyone has shared their ‘object’ of show and tell, hold a final poll and ask everyone to vote. Acknowledge the students whose objects received the most votes and praise them in front of everyone.
5. Sharing Favorite Emojis
If you want to elevate your students’ mood from the get go, nudge them to share their feelings through emojis. With this, the atmosphere of a virtual classroom will become engaging and relatable. Students will happily be a part of this icebreaker as they are able to free up their minds and express themself in a creative manner.
All these icebreakers will warm the virtual classroom and break the metaphorical ice by eliminating the initial awkwardness of students.
2) Use Multimedia
Multimedia plays a vital role as it allows students to interact with diverse texts that help them better understand the subject matter. It quickly captures students’ attention in the virtual classroom.
Multimedia elements like images, videos, infographics, animations, and audio make learning materials more interesting and engaging, improving students’ focus for longer periods of time.
Multimedia fosters two-way interaction between the teacher and students in real-time, and also provides them with valuable learning opportunities. When you use it in an online classroom, it creates a world of visual literacy and authentic learning experiences, engaging students in higher-order thinking skills. It also encourages them to express their ideas and thoughts by coming to the live virtual stage.
3) Assign Group Task or Projects
One effective way to make a virtual classroom more interactive is to engage students in collaborative activities. When they engage in a collaborative exercise, they are naturally involved in the session, boosting their overall participation. Students in a group will solve any challenges in novel and interesting ways.
You can assign a group task or project on a specific subject matter, like science, history, etc. Share with students the notes, files, or any documents needed to do that. Establish in advance a deadline by which they need to finish it so the rest of the session will occur on time.
4) Use Breakout Room
If you want to create a physical classroom environment in a virtual classroom, use a breakout room. It allows you to split students into groups so they can have focused discussions about the topic at hand. Everyone derives value from such a session where they can all easily share their ideas, thoughts, and viewpoints.
Since breakout rooms are designed for group discussions, students will be encouraged to learn from each other in this session. In fact, breakout space will create a supportive learning environment where students will learn from each other. Plus, they can brainstorm ideas, solve challenges, and together complete projects in real-time.
5) Encourage Networking
Encourage networking if you want to create a highly engaging environment for your students. Allow students to interact with peers and build new connections with classmates. Virtual classroom platforms like Airmeet offer networking features like networking lounge, speed networking, and more, which you can use and allow students to socialize and build relationships with others.
With this networking session, students will feel like they are interacting in a physical room. If you have international students, a networking session can help get to know one another and network with peers globally. Learners can share files, seek advice, exchange contact numbers, and get the most out of it.
6) Conduct an Ask Me Anything Session
In order to foster engagement, conduct an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. Encourage learners to ask questions about specific topics that they are interested in and address them in real-time. It will make students feel heard and valued. If you want to have a valuable virtual AMA session, allow students to ask questions regarding careers, exam preparation, in-demand skills, and more.
7) Incorporate Gamification
Gamify your virtual classroom and create an immersive experience for students. Integrate game-like elements such as a leaderboard, points systems, badges, and challenges to give students an opportunity to learn in an entertaining way. With gamification, learning will become more exciting, leading to better knowledge retention.
Reports suggest that an 89% increase in student performance can be achieved via challenge-based, gamified learning, and that gamification boosts memory and recall by 40%. Because gamification improves students’ level of understanding, it creates a more enjoyable learning environment, which increases the likelihood of information being absorbed and retained.
8) Encourage Student-Led Discussions
Instead of addressing the entire class, every once in a while, ask one student to present a topic and have the rest of the class engage with them, and discuss the topic. This approach will encourage students to be more involved and boost their participation.
When students see that one of their peers is going to speak on a topic, they will be more likely to pay attention and listen to them. Everyone will participate in the discussion and get encouraged to contribute something of their own.
This idea will create a highly interactive virtual classroom. However, if you really want to make it a success, follow the steps below.
- Instruct all students that the goal of this session is to explore a topic from many angles, not to prove anyone wrong
- Request students to use the “raise their hand” feature of the virtual classroom platform, if they have something to say or want to express their opinion
- Set a time for each student to speak so they can contribute positively to the discussion
- If one student is speaking, request the others to listen to him/her first. Then, after they have finished speaking, the others can respond or pose questions
- Encourage students to turn on their cameras, so the discussions will be more engaging and personal
- Give yourself a break from the teaching role for a while. Take on the role of a facilitator and guide the conversation until it reaches its goal
Final Thoughts
Since students are learning remotely, it is crucial to create a highly interactive virtual classroom environment for them. As you do this, you will be able to improve learners’ attention in the class, develop a love of learning in them, and boost overall participation.
By implementing the tips we’ve covered here, you’ll not only create a dynamic and lively online classroom, but also one in which students can freely express themselves.
From using icebreakers and assigning group projects to encouraging networking and incorporating gamification, these best practices will create a highly interactive classroom and help create an experience that students will remember for long after the session concludes.
FAQ
- Interactive classroom boosts students’ participation and encourages them to be actively part in the session
- Students better understand the concept and the information being taught
- Students get encouraged to learn from peers
- With the use of gamification, the learning becomes more entertaining and enjoyable
- Group activities, hands-on exercises, and breakout rooms make students excited to learn
- Students better collaborate and communicate with other students
- An interactive classroom makes a more inclusive learning environment for students
If your session is longer than 90 minutes, schedule a 5-10 minute break after 30 minutes each and allow students to stretch, relax, meditate, move around, grab a drink, or take a break from the screen. This will help them overcome screen fatigue and mental burnout, enabling students to remain focused in an online classroom.
The following ideas will help students effectively engage with a virtual whiteboard:
- Along with writing the text, draw diagrams and highlight important points so that students can clearly understand what you are talking about.
- Instead of simply lecturing and writing on the board yourself, give students control to draw and write.
- Use the whiteboard to create a fun session. Give one student a word (from your lesson) and allow him to draw it on the board, and then the rest of the class will try to guess it.
- Instruct students to log into the virtual class five minutes before the session starts
- Encourage students to sit in a quiet room with no background noise
- Instruct them to use the “Raise Hand” feature when speaking and unmute when others are speaking
- Ask students to dress appropriately so they look professional on camera
- Instruct to keep the notes, diary, and book ready
